When Lee met Amanda part 2
by Sonja Schreiber
Summary: Rating is probably a little high, conclusion to part 1


~~~~~~ The Next Morning ~~~~~  
  
Amanda woke up stiff and sore from sleeping on the sofa all night. Lee had his jeans on and was just buttoning up his shirt. She began to sit up.   
  
"What time is it?" she asked, wondering why it was still dark outside.   
  
"6:30. I thought I could go home, shower, get dressed and be at work by 7:30"  
  
"Oh" she yawned and fell back on the sofa.  
  
He bent down and kissed her on her closed eye lids and then her lips and ran his fingers through a few locks of her hair.  
  
"I'll see you at work, ok?" he started to walk out the door.  
  
"Lee!" she called out. He stopped and turned around.  
  
She hesitated and then seemed to change her mind. "Nothing. Bye"  
  
"Bye"  
  
~~~~~~1 hour later in the Q Bureau ~~~~~~~  
  
Lee couldn't concentrate on his paper work. He kept going over the situation. It was a mistake. He knew it from the beginning. Deep down he knew he wanted a romantic relationship with Amanda more than anything. But he didn't want it to start like this. he didn't' know how to even begin to talk to her. Someone walking through the door interrupted his thoughts. Expecting it to be Amanda, Lee quickly began talking before looking up.  
  
"Amanda last night was a…mistake…Francine!" he finally looked up to see the horrified blond standing dumb struck blond.  
  
"What did you and Amanda do last night that was a mistake?" she asked, her nosy self recovered from the shock.  
  
Before he could reply, Amanda walked in. "Good morning Lee, Francine" she said in her usual cheerful voice. Francine just gave her a suspicious and dirty look, before placing some files on Lee's desk and leaving the bureau.  
  
"Amanda…"  
"Lee…" they began at the same time  
  
After an uncomfortable silence and trying to avoid each other's gaze, Amanda finally spoke up.  
  
"Lee, I…we…maybe…ugh!! Look, I didn't have any coffee this morning. Maybe we should go and…talk about what happened."  
  
He nodded and without saying a word, he picked up his jacket and they walked, his hand on the small of her back, out of IFF. They walked down to a little café at the end of the road, and sat down inside at a little corner booth. After ordering and receiving their coffee, Amanda spilled out what they both were thinking.  
  
"Lee, look. Last night meant a lot to me. I'm not sorry we…well, did what we did. But it was a bad idea. Please don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I can understand why the women love to be with you, even if it's only for a little while."  
  
Lee was groaning inwardly. She had to remind him what kind of guy he was. Used to be! He hadn't been with a women sexually for a long time. Months in fact. But even back then he had felt guilty when he did. He didn't know why. He wasn't involved with anyone seriously. He was going to tell her that, so she wouldn't think of him as a sleaze bag, but she started talking again.  
  
"Lee, you're very special to me, and I value our friendship. We should just put this whole thing behind us and go on with life."   
  
"Oh thank god! I'm so glad you said that. You're right. We should just put this entire fiscal behind us. Forget about it" as he spoke Amanda was nodding in agreement.   
  
"Right. So last night never happened." She stated trying to understand if what she was feeling at that moment was relief or disappointment. "Maybe we should head back to work." She said getting a little uncomfortable with this unidentifiable feeling.  
  
Inside, Lee was having the same feeling. He knew he loved Amanda, but he wasn't sure why they were both agreeing to forget about the previous night. He didn't want to. In his mind, they had made love, not just had sex. But he didn't have the courage to tell her he that he loved her, if she didn't feel the same way.  
  
The rest of the day passed in uncomfortable silence between the two. When the day's paper work was done, Amanda got her purse and coat and left with just a simple "Good bye Lee"   
  
Lee barely had time to respond when she closed the door.  
  
That night Lee could not find sleep. He felt guilty for letting her believe they were just friends. He wanted to tell her he loved her. And he was. He finally made up his mind to tell her how he felt. He thought about calling her, but that would be to impersonal. He decided to tell her tomorrow.  
  
~~~~~~ The Next Day ~~~~~~  
  
Amanda still hadn't come in yet. It was nearly 11:30. Lee began to get a little worried and was about to call her, when Billy walked into the bureau. Lee knew Billy never came up unless there was something very important or something bad was happening.   
  
"Hey Billy. What brings you up here?" he asked very cool trying to hide his nerves.  
  
"Lee, I'm afraid I have some pretty bad news. Amanda…"  
  
Lee's heart stopped. She had to be all right. If anything had happened to her…  
  
Billy continued before Lee could finish his thought. "…came in very early and delivered this envelope to Mrs. Martson to give to me, and then she left again. She didn't think it was that important, so she just gave it to me a half hour ago."  
  
He handed Lee the envelope for him to read the letter. Lee opened the flap, reminding himself to breath every few seconds. As hard as he tried, he couldn't make out the letters and words. His mind just refused to read it. "maybe you should just give me the just of it" he said after putting the letter back in its envelope and handed it back to Billy.  
  
"It's a formal letter asking for a weeks vacation."  
  
Lee breathed a sigh of relief "that's it! she wants a vacation. Billy, you had me scared there. I thought it might be ser…"  
  
"Lee, she wants me to use that week to find her either a new partner or another job at the Agency."   
  
Lee swore his heart stopped. She wanted a transfer. She didn't want to work with him any more. He should have known sleeping with her would have terrible consequences. Things would never be the same, they both knew that, but things didn't' have to change that much did they. 'I should have told her yesterday it wasn't a mistake'  
  
Lee dropped into his chair and sat in shock thinking about what Billy had said. He didn't even notice when he left the office. When he finally came out of his state of shock, he picked up the phone and called Amanda.  
  
She answered the phone after one ring and spoke in a quiet, guilty voice, already knowing who it was and why they he was calling. "Hello Lee"  
  
"Amanda, Billy was just in here and told me the biggest load of bull shit I've ever heard. He told me you requested a transfer."  
  
"Lee, don't do this. please. I did what I did for a reason and I would like you to respect that and leave me alone." She spoke getting louder at the end of her sentence, emphasizing the 'leave me alone'. Lowering her voice again and taking in a breath she spoke again. "I'm on vacation and I want you to leave me be until then." She hung up without saying good bye or letting him respond.   
  
  
For the next three days Lee came to see her every day. She never came to the door or acknowledged his presence. He knew she was home because he could see the lights go on and off, and see her walking around. He would call all the time, only ever getting her answering machine. He would leave long messages pleading with her to answer him.   
  
On the forth day, December 31, Lee had had enough of being ignored, and he would do something about it. When the answering machine picked up, Lee began singing very off key.  
  
"It must have been cold there in my shadow  
to never have sunlight on your face.  
You've always been content to let me shine.  
You've always walked one step behind.  
  
I was the …"  
  
"All right! All right! I'm here. You have two minutes to tell me what you want!"  
  
"I just want to talk to you."   
  
"Fine, talk. You have a minute and fifty-five seconds."  
  
"What are you doing tonight?"  
  
"I'm going to Francine's New Year's party." She relied coldly  
  
"Are you taking a date?"   
  
"That's none of your business."   
  
"Well, I was going to go too, and I since we're partners, thought maybe you'd go with me."  
  
"That's right! You can always rely on me!" she replied sarcastically "I'm just Amanda, I couldn't get a date, and since all the girls you usually date have a curfew, good ol Amanda is here for you to show up with!" she was practically yelling into the phone at this point. "Well listen to this, Stetson. I have a date tonight. And if all I am to you is a substitute or a one night stand then…"   
  
Lee decided to interrupt her because she was not to making sense, and the things she was saying weren't true. "Amanda, I want to take you! You're not a substitute. I thought we could go out to dinner and then go to Francine's party."  
  
"Lee, I asked for vacation and a transfer because I don't think I can work with you anymore. You feel differently than I do about…about, oh never mind. Good bye." And with that, she hung up.  
  
~~~~~~~ That Night ~~~~~~~  
  
Amanda was trying to have a fun time, but she couldn't help but feel guilty for talking to Lee like she had. She wanted to tell him that she loved him. She had wanted to tell him at the café but she never found the words. When he agreed full heatedly that they should just forget it and they should just stay friends, her heart broke.   
  
She tried to find Lee at the party, but she couldn't find him. 'I probably scared him away'. She stared feeling so bad about what she had done and she didn't want to stay. At 11:58 she started putting her jacket on and got ready to leave. She didn't want to be around at midnight. There was no one she wanted to kiss at midnight. Beeman, her date, had just used taking Amanda to the party as an excuse to get close to Francine, and had spent most of the time stumbling around drunk chasing her.   
  
She had just opened the door and began walking down the hall when she heard someone running down the hall towards her. "Lee?" She asked in surprise, when she finally recognized the stranger.  
  
"Amanda…I …I…had…to.." he was panting and out of breath. He had been walking around DC until he finally made a decision. since he didn't have a car, and the traffic was too bad to take a cab, he ran across town to Francine's apartment. When he finally had started breathing normally he started speaking again.  
  
"Amanda," he stopped and took one more deep breath "I love you"  
  
"Oh please Lee. You've given me a hard enough time already. You don't have to stoop that low to get a date for a party, or get me to forgive you, or get me sleep with you again!"  
  
"I'm not …stooping. Amanda I love you. I love the way you ramble on without noticing it. I love the way you care for other people before yourself. I love your cute little nose and your beautiful eyes. I love the look you get on your face when you're angry or frustrated, like the look you have now. I love your mind, the way you're able to find something vital in a case that no one else spots. I love you." He repeated before taking a much-needed breath, but smiling the entire time. "I want you to believe me when I say that I will love you for a lot longer than just one night, because this is so real to me. I don't think I've ever been so intrigued and amazed by any woman in my whole life, and I wouldn't want to be."  
  
Suddenly, people from the apartment started the count down. "10…9…8…"  
  
"I, I hate you" she said in a barely audible voice, her eyes filling with tears. She looked up at his grinning face as she softly began beating his chest. Stepping forward very slightly with every hit, she spoke so quietly, sometimes she seemed to only mouth the words. "I hate you, I hate you, hate you, hate you" she finally gave up and rested her arms and face on his chest, while he wrapped his arms around her. The cheering and singing of 'auld lan sine' from the party brought the two back to reality.   
  
He looked down into her eyes. He closed the small space between them and kissed her softly. As they parted, Lee could feel her lips curving into a smile. He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time with more passion. When they parted for the second time Lee spoke again "what does that some mean any way?" referring to the singers in the apartment. "does it mean we should forget everyone we've met, or to remember those you have already forgotten them"  
  
"I think it means" she said, interrupting his rambling, "that you should never forget a friendship with someone, even you relationship with that person changes. But no matter what, you'll always stay friends." She looked up at him lovingly and kissed him again.   
  
"to old friends then" he said kissing her for the forth time "and to a new relationship"  
  
Somewhere in the kissing frenzy, she managed to retrieve her lips long enough to say "I love you Lee"  
  
She could feel his lips smiling underneath yet another kiss, "I love you too"  
  
The End  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Sappy, I know, but I'm still a beginner!   
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
